DAVID SPADE

February 20, 2001

House of Blues

West Hollywood, CA

Photo credit: David Spade

Interrupting celebrities during their private time is off limits. But how private is the moment when they are on public display? Smooching in a club, for example. It is still probably not considered good form to disturb them, but lucky for me I had a friend who thought my idea was a worthy reason to butt in. 

We were on our way out of a pre-Grammy MTV Rock the Vote event at the House of Blues in West Hollywood. My friend and I walked through the first set of double doors and before we went through the second set, we passed a couple passionately kissing while pressed up against the wall. There was a sign on the second set of doors that read. No Ins and Outs so I quickly stopped my friend when I saw who it was. “That was David Spade,” I said, “He has to take my picture!”

My friend stopped in his tracks, backed up, and called out his name, “David!” Ballsy move. Not how I would have approached this brutaly sarcastic comedian, but at this point there was no turning back. We’d committed, so we continued.

David turned to us. Not surprisingly, he seemed annoyed that we had the gall to bother him during his moment of bliss. The girl was very pretty but I saw him pressed up against a different pretty girl at the Staples Center once before. (Sorry David.) Both were quite a bit taller than he was.

My friend quickly said, “She’s got this great idea.” Reluctantly, David looked at me and I bravely proceeded. “I‘ve got this celebrity photo album...” “Oh no,” he groaned. I said, “No! It’s just a bunch of pictures of ME taken by celebrities.” I had his full attention now. He said, “Oh good!! I’ll do that!” I handed him my camera and he quickly stuck his right arm straight up in the air as far as it could go and snapped a picture facing downward. He laughed a crazy David Spade, “HA!!!” and handed my camera back. I thanked him, my friend said, “Carry on with what you were doing,” and we left.

I'm glad he was a good sport and lucky that he liked my idea. But I’m sad to report that after all we went through that night, there was no film in my camera. It would have been such a cool photo, too. 

Fortunately, six years later, I crossed paths with David Spade again. This time we were also at the House of Blues in West Hollywood, waiting for a Public Enemy concert. It was August of 2007 and I was sitting at the bar in the sparsely populated VIP room on the third floor. It's the same bar where I saw Dan Aykroyd. Though David Spade was walking around alone, I wasn't sure if I wanted to approach him.

I already had a great story from our first unexpected meeting, but this time I was armed with a digital camera and was sure that I’d get the photo I was after. 

He walked up to the bar and stood right next to me. That made my decision easy. He ordered a drink and I said, “Hi.” "Uh Oh,” he said, just like last time. He was not in the mood to be treated like a celebrity and frankly, I was not in the mood to treat him like one, but there we were. I told him about My Celebrity Photo Album and asked if he would take my picture. He took my camera and, without speaking, rushed through the process and handed it back. Happy with himself, he said, "That was good, I got the bartender in it too—and all that." He wagged his hand up in the air to indicate the bottles above the bar then he turned and started to walk away. I said, "Hey, what about your drink?" "He's taking too long,” David said, and away he went. I don't know if he was impatient or if I scared him off, but either way, I got the photo.

Years later I saw him again with Norm Macdonald at my local sports bar. In contrast to the previous run-ins, this time David Spade was hamming it up with fans, taking pictures and acting like a glorified celebrity—so naturally I ignored him. 

It took a couple tries but I’m happy that I have a complete entry from David Spade. Our first meeting brought a fun story, the second delivered with an attractive photo, and the third was just icing on the cake. 

Thanks for your time, David. I’ll leave you alone now.